This one only took me 6 years.. 1/72 Revell C-54 to Argonaut conversion AIM conversion set.

[wallyinoz]

This one gave me as much trouble as my earlier DC-7C. I like this one less, I just wanted it over and cant be bothered doing any more on it, that said it looks ok from a metre. Not a fan of the Revell kit, for me it was over-engineered and far too many tiny pieces, but for real modellers with perfect eyesight and a surgeons touch I guess it is a beauty.

I used the AIM decals but the side stripe cracked up on me so I had to print my own. ( I used some of the AIM decals which were fine after I sprayed them with an acrylic clear coat)

[

I dont know if these 2 ever shared the tarmac together, but they do share the same shelf in the display cabinet.. (the Viscount built some years ago with home made decals)

[Ed Russell]

Very nice Wal. Your thoughts on the Revell DC-4 are in line with others I have heard. I am sure I will be able to leave many bits out of mine!

[roginoz]

You've made a silk purse out of this pigs ear of a kit, Wal ! A brace of superbly presented models and the Argonaut is a ripper ! Remember seeing the BOAC [?] Argonauts at LHR when the airport was much smaller and more public.

Your comments about Revells over engineering are well made; the internal cabin, cluttered with bits 'n' pieces, 90% of which will never be seen and the cabin itself, I found, only serves to cause fitting problems to the outer fuselage halves

 

I'm in the process of faffing about with the tiny u/c parts and I lack the prescribed 20-20 eyesight and surgical digits required for such minuscule parts.

Think I may have mentioned, I'm doing mine in Ansett-ANA Cargomaster livery using the Hawkeye decal sheet.

If it comes up half as good as yours, I'll be well pleased !!

Rog 

[Pete in Lincs]

It was worth the wait, Wally. She's a beauty. Though I'd forgotten how ungainly? they look with Merlins.

[steh2o]

Lovely work, worth the effort!

[Vesa Jussila]

Nice one. Never too many civil planes. Thanks for sharing.

[swralph]

Very nice build Wally.😀

[BKirwan]

Lovely model and I love the finish on the metal.

Great stuff. 

[Buzby061]

Love both of them. I remember the Viscounts at Ringway.

 

Pete

[cherry268]

Cracking job, looks the biz

[Homer]

Congratulations on a fine piece of work well done 👏 

[SAT69]

2 hours ago, Homer said:

Congratulations on a fine piece of work well done 👏 

AGREE!

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Beautifully done!  I see a DF "football" up top.  Did BM's aircraft have any antennas on the underside, such as DF loops and sensing aerials?  I can't see any with your build, but it could simply be the angle at which you took the photos.  Your results on the horrid Mach 2 kit are also outstanding, and must've taken enormous effort--much more than the DC-4--to produce.

 

It took me close to two years to complete my Revell C-54, and I agree with you about the engineering, which is really tight.  I used metal undercarriage from Scale Aircraft Conversions, and it took a fair bit of cursing to get them to seat properly--even more because I had an overall bare-metal bird.  There's a fair amount of hardware on the nose gear that you should just remove, for example, rather than mess with.

[goggsy]

Beautiful job on a truly hateful kit. If I recall correctly the undercarriage was the worst part of it. I felt like setting myself on fire when I was doing it.

[kapam]

A very beautiful outcome with that conversion!  👍👍

The comments about the Revell C-54 are interesting - I built mine as a civilian DC-4.

Yes, it is somewhat "over-detailed" in places - for example; the cockpit, forward cabin and u/c bays only got basic work from me and no-one would really know.

But, for sure, I'd be proud to have your Argonaut in my display cabinet.

[wallyinoz]

On 2/15/2021 at 11:54 PM, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Beautifully done!  I see a DF "football" up top.  Did BM's aircraft have any antennas on the underside, such as DF loops and sensing aerials?  I can't see any with your build, but it could simply be the angle at which you took the photos.  Your results on the horrid Mach 2 kit are also outstanding, and must've taken enormous effort--much more than the DC-4--to produce.

 

It took me close to two years to complete my Revell C-54, and I agree with you about the engineering, which is really tight.  I used metal undercarriage from Scale Aircraft Conversions, and it took a fair bit of cursing to get them to seat properly--even more because I had an overall bare-metal bird.  There's a fair amount of hardware on the nose gear that you should just remove, for example, rather than mess with.

Hiya thanks for your kind remarks. I do have an undersidet akeoff picture of the BM argonaut and they are equipped with underside ADF football and other aerials ,pieces  for which are amongst the myriad small parts on the kit sprues. By the time I had faffed around building the undercarriage and put topside aerials on I was getting fearful of breaking some pieces of while installing underside detail parts.. I chickened out and omitted them. I had to put so much lead in the nose to stop tail sitting I was also worried about over-stressing the nose gear. I was just glad to put it in the cabinet and not worry about it any more lol.

[wallyinoz]

On 2/16/2021 at 1:00 AM, goggsy said:

Beautiful job on a truly hateful kit. If I recall correctly the undercarriage was the worst part of it. I felt like setting myself on fire when I was doing it.

yes I put off undercarriage construction for a while, I couldnt make head or tail of the kit instructions for quite a few steps.. flaps and wheel construction but some examples, I am sure some parts were misnumbered on the sprues or the instructions called for wrongly numbered wheel parts.. in the end I found they were to fat to fit on the bogey and look as if they could fit in the wheel bay and in a fit of desperation I used some spare DC-6 wheels from the heller kit instead! If one is going to design such a complex piece of kit one would hope that it all comes together perfectly without any ambiguity as where the parts go.. I did not find this to be the case with this kit. To cement the nose wheel in place before fuselage half closure is just asking for it to be broken off during the construction of the model, so I had the extra fun of installing this near its completion.

I have another kit in the stash..I don't want to build it hell I dont even want to see it!